Tag: pavement parking

Today the House of Commons transport select committee has called for a nationwide ban on vehicles parking on pavements, except on designated streets. Currently the ban only applies in London. MPs have been examining the issue over the summer. They conclude in today’s report that the government’s inaction on introducing a ban “has left communities blighted by unsightly and obstructive pavement parking and individuals afraid or unable to leave their homes or safely navigate the streets.”

I agree with the committee. It is time to reclaim our pavements from thoughtless car and van drivers. I would welcome the extension of the laws that apply in London to the rest of the country. It is, as the MPs say, time to act.

It is time to bring in a nationwide ban on parking on pavements. I am supporting a call by four national organisations to ban pavement parking.

Over Christmas, as throughout the year, pavements around this town and many others have been partially or totally blocked by cars and vans. Yet the roads alongside the pavements have had plenty of room for parking and in most cases, there has not been a parking restriction in sight.

This is selfish parking by motorists who seem to have forgotten that pavements are for pedestrians, children on cycles, people in wheelchairs and on mobility scooters, and parents pushing children in buggies. Pavement users face being forced out into the road because some inconsiderate drivers think that it is better to block the pavement than use a road designed for vehicles to park on.